ATRA CRITICIZES PALM BEACH LAWYER'S 'HEART ATTACKS IN PUBLIC PLACES' AD

McKinney Says 'This Mindset Helps Make South Florida a Judicial Hellhole'

Washington, DC, September 06, 2007 -- The American Tort Reform Association today posted on its Web site (www.atra.org) a criticism of a personal injury lawyer's advertisement suggesting that people who have heart attacks in public places should sue others for liability.

"I didn't have a heart attack when I saw this shameless ad," explained ATRA director of communications Darren McKinney, "but I found its opportunistic, ambulance-chasing mentality to be truly sickening. So who can I sue?"

The ad, appearing on some taxi cabs in and around Palm Beach, Florida, McKinney reported, are those of personal injury lawyer Craig Goldenfarb, whose Web site, among other things, informs visitors:

If you or a loved one believes a life may have been saved if a public facility . . . would have had an AED [defibrillator] , please contact the . . . Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. to discuss the merits of your possible case.

"Of course, Mr. Goldenfarb's Web site offers no information about the personal choices that can lead to heart attacks, such as eating or drinking or smoking too much and not getting enough exercise," McKinney pointed out. "Apparently, he'd rather we blame someone else, and that mindset helps make Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties the collective judicial hellhole they are," he added, noting that ATRA's Judicial Hellholes® 2006 report cited South Florida among the "nation's worst, most unfair jurisdictions in which to be sued."

"I'm reluctant to give this guy additional publicity that could help him gin up more business," conceded McKinney. "But ATRA intends to keep reminding consumers, taxpayers and voters in judicial hellholes that they ultimately bear the costs for the lawsuit abuse that the Craig Goldenfarbs of the world foment."

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.